As the grip of the German Occupation tightened on Paris in the summer of 1940, art historian Agnes Humbert took a leap of faith and courage, and with a handful of her colleagues at the Musée de l'Homme in Paris, she helped to form one of the first organized groups of the French Resistance. Betrayed and arrested in 1941, she was deported to Germany as slave labor, a trial Humbert described in a secret journal. Refusing even in the grimmest days to surrender her compassion, humanity, or talent for spotting the absurd, she writes with a deft and sardonic wit, offering a uniquely personal and literate perspective.

"Shortly after the conclusion of the war, Humbert, a middle-aged art historian and one of the founders of Résistance, the illegal liberation newspaper, published this compelling diary-memoir. Long referenced by World War II scholars, this book has never before been published in English. In vivid detail, she chronicles the fall of Paris, the Nazi occupation, her dangerous underground activities and alliances, and, finally, her arrest and imprisonment in a series of brutal German labor camps. In addition to being a passionate testament to all those who bravely struggled against seemingly insurmountable odds, this memoir also serves as a significant contribution to the history of women in warfare. Although it's not for the faint of heart, those who are compelled to read this inspiring true story will be amply inspired and rewarded."—Booklist